Medusa
by Frederic Lebrun
Summary: Starscream like you've never seen him before.


Transformers don't belong to me. However, Medusa, Sinistron,  
Pestilence, Plague and Headcrusher are complete creations of mine and  
must not being used without my consent.  
  
WARNING: Since English is not my mother tongue (I'm French), please  
excuse for eventual wrong grammar or wrong words.  
  
  
MEDUSA  
  
  
Time hadn't healed anything. Millions years later, night rarely spent  
without she showed in his dreams. Her mouth slowly opened a she came  
next to him. So he woke up screaming:  
- Medusa!!  
Inevitably, a charitable or curious soul pushed the door of his  
bedroom and asked:  
- Something wrong, Starscream?  
The answer was always the same.  
- No, no. I just had a nightmare. Leave me alone."  
So they left him alone, alone with the past, alone with her.  
  
  
It was millenaries before they left Cybertron, in a world as  
irremediably sunk as Atlantis. Civil War had not begun yet;  
differences between Autobots and Decepticons were remaining on a  
political level. Well, some extremists on both sides wanted to make  
guns speaking, but one generally thought that war wouldn't occur as  
long as wise people such as Alpha Trion and Cosmotron would be leading  
both factions. Since war did not forced them yet to choose a side,  
many cybertronians, especially the young ones, sat on the fence.  
Starscream was among them. And he was in love.  
His chosen one was named Medusa. She was black, tall, and elegant,  
with a delicately drawn face and deep blue optics. They met in a youth-  
frequented bar, the "Hyperion". She was a Decepticon, as evidenced by  
the purple badge on her chest. It made her very proud, something  
hardly understandable for the young fool he was then. For him, the  
only meaning thing – Medusa excepted – was exploration of new worlds  
with his pal Skyfire. Politics was time wasted. Many times he had  
expounded his point of view to her. God! Why had she not listened to  
him!  
- One of these days, you'll have to choose, Medusa was saying. One  
can't spend all his life on the verge.  
- Well, I'll choose… to fly away, of course with you.  
But she didn't smile. She had no humor anymore when it came to  
politics.  
- Sorry, but I've not heart to fight for smoke… Autobots,  
Decepticons, same stuff to me. Don't take it bad.  
She did, without showing it.  
How many times this conversation had came off, similar in all  
aspects, alike those movies human networks continuously re-aired. It  
always ended the same way. Medusa and he went out for a walk in  
Cybertron city. The town was not yet the ruin field it used to be now.  
It was lights, of all possible colors, as far as the eye could reach.  
They stopped on the Big Bridge from where one had the town's most  
beautiful panorama. Starscream showed his bride all the stars he had  
visited, or projected to visit. She raved like a child about the  
largely embellished tales he made her of his travels. However, she  
always finally said, looking at the unsleeping city:  
- There's nothing like Cybertron. I could die for all this.  
Starscream did not like when she talked that way.  
- Living is not a bad way to serve either, he added.  
- You know what I mean.  
- That's the problem. Excuse me, but I can't bear the idea that the  
one I love may be killed one day for a stupid cause.  
She turned to him, obviously offended.  
- Would you think I don't worry when you leave for unknown worlds?  
However, I've never tried to keep you away from doing it. Why don't  
you respect my choice like I respect yours?  
He didn't answer. He wondered if he was not an egotist, after all.  
Never he had thought of what she felt like when he went for an  
expedition. Surely it was not easy for her.  
- Excuse me, he finally said. But I… I don't know how I could live  
without you.  
Medusa's fingers found his ones and wrapped around them.  
- So do I. But stop all that. Look at this and forget all the rest.  
War is not for tomorrow – nor for the day after, I hope.  
She was wrong. War was much closer that she thought. But Starscream  
believed her. He needed it so much.  
A long time spent before he said:  
- Med… I leave tomorrow.  
A little sigh was her answer.  
- Not a big travel, he pursued. I'll be back before you'll have  
noticed I was gone.  
Another sighed.  
  
- You look strange, Skyfire said some time after they had left  
Cybertron. Some problem with Medusa?  
- Yes… and no. It's uneasy to explain. But I think I'm going to  
quit. This expedition will be the last one for me.  
- Well, you do what you want to do. But traveling will be less fun  
without you, my friend.  
- You'll send me postcards.  
- You can count on me!  
  
The end is known. They arrived on a planet he later identified like  
being Earth, and Skyfire disappeared. Maybe it was a premonition of  
the following events, at least Starscream later thought so. Anyway, he  
felt very sad when he came back to Cybertron, and seeing that Medusa  
didn't wait for him at the airport was not comforting to him.  
He went to the Hyperion where he found Medusa in great conversation  
with a Decepticon group. Starscream recognized Pestilence, Plague and  
Headcrusher, who were part of Cosmotron's close guard, but he had  
never seen the others before. He asked the host about them:  
- Extremist Decepticons, the host answered. The white one is the  
leader of that fringe, Megatron. He's companied by his damned souls  
Soundwave and Shockwave. Very dangerous guys, if you want my opinion.  
Cosmotron is too weak with them.  
Starscream had to admit that Megatron didn't look trustable. But he  
had much more to think than that. Medusa didn't even have noticed his  
presence, and she probably wouldn't appreciate that he cut into their  
conversation. So, he left, a sorrowful shadow dissolving in the night.  
  
  
Medusa had much to say when he met her at the bar the day after.  
She looked glad, so he unexplainably thought the news would be not as  
good for him as they were for her. He was right, since she right off  
announced him:  
- I'm into Cosmotron's close guard! It's such an honor for me!  
He smiled. What else could he do? If he has congratulated her, she  
would have guessed he was not sincere.  
- Please excuse me for not having been there when you arrived, she  
pursued. I've been told about Skyfire. I'm really sorry. He was a nice  
guy.  
- Yes, he was a nice guy.  
But Medusa already went to something else:  
- Do you know that Alpha Trion and Cosmotron are about to make a  
deal? Isn't it marvelous?  
- Yes, it is. (He paused.) I'll leave in two days. It will be a  
long expedition. Don't know when I'll be back. Surely it will take  
time.  
In fact nothing was planned. He just wanted to know the level where  
their relation had come. He knew it when she answered:  
- So bad, I'll wait for you.  
That was all. Medusa had no time for a walk. They left before the  
bar. Starscream didn't know it yet, but he had seen her for the last  
time.  
  
Mission lasted almost a year. If he had looked for oblivion, he  
didn't find it. No one day spent without he thought of her, wandering  
what she was doing and if she cared about him. On the last point he  
had strong doubts.  
Then he finally came home.  
Cybertron had changed, and not for the best. It was not frankly war  
yet, but one was feeling its imminence. People looked at you and  
looked each other in a very strange way he had never seen before.  
Ambiance at the Hyperion too was not the same anymore.  
And Medusa wasn't there.  
As he wondered where she could be, someone poked him. He turned  
around, discovering the host's curiously older face.  
- You're searching for Medusa, aren't you?  
Starscream nodded – and the light passing in the host's optics made  
him fearing the worst things.  
- Come with me, the host. Let's have a drink. I'll tell you.  
- No, no, Starscream protested. I want to know now. What happened  
to her? Is she wounded?  
The host seemed to be embarrassed.  
- In fact, I don't know. Please, sit down. You'll be easier. Prefer  
standing? Well, as you want… You probably have noticed that things  
have changed very much since you went away. Everybody prepares to  
fight.  
- But… I don't understand. Last time I saw her, Medusa told me that  
Alpha and Cosmotron were going to make a deal…  
- Yes, but Cosmotron has been overthrown. By Megatron. You guess  
what followed: deal has been buried, and total war is only a question  
of time.  
Soundwave sat. He couldn't believe what he had heard.  
- But Medusa…?  
The host sat in front of him.  
- As you know, Medusa was completely true to Cosmotron, as were the  
other close guards. The evening you came, Megatron was trying to  
obtain their support for his putsch project. Of course, he failed, and  
he knew his plan couldn't succeed as long as they'd oppose it. He  
decided to dispose of them. He couldn't simply kill them, because they  
were stronger than him, individually and collectively. So he trapped  
them – something he's really gifted for.  
Faking renouncing to his projects, he led them under a false  
pretext to a space capsule, made them come in, and then closed the  
door and sent them in space. The capsule was in an absolutely  
indestructible metal so that they couldn't get out and were condemned  
to eternally wandering in space. Them on touch, Megatron easily  
liquidated Cosmotron and took his place.  
Starscream couldn't say a word. It was impossible. Impossible.  
- I'm sorry, Starscream, really sorry…  
He repulsed the friendly hand and lifted.  
- I'll find her, he determinately said. I'll find her.  
The host looked at him, scared.  
- Starscream! Space is endless! Who knows where she may be now?  
- I don't care. It will take the time it will need. But I'll find  
her. And if I don't… (He paused.) I'll kill Megatron.  
- Starscream! Stay here! You're not in your normal state! You…  
He shut up. Starscream had crossed the door. Although knowing he  
had very few chances to succeed, the host couldn't help himself to  
wish him good luck.  
  
  
Starscream never found Medusa. As the host had said, space was  
endless, especially when you didn't know where you had to search. He  
visited thousand different worlds, meeting thousand different races.  
Sometimes, he thought having a clue, but the track turned to be wrong.  
Finally, as he had devoted ten years of his life to that hopeless  
search, he decided to stop expenses and went back to Cybertron, firmly  
decided to fulfill his promise.  
As he had expected, his native planet now was a prey to a merciless  
war, and the world he used to know was nothing but a memory. He didn't  
mourn over it. He was a new Starscream, and that new himself didn't  
cry nor fall in love. He wanted only one thing: killing Megatron. But  
how? Megatron surely was well guarded, unapproachable to a lonely  
gunner. Joining Autobots? No. Starscream didn't want to be  
dispossessed of his final victory. He wanted to do it himself.  
So he joined the Decepticons. What better place for killing  
Megatron than inside his group? The rest belonged to history. By  
showing his capacities and above all by being a skilful courtier, he  
became Megatron's second.  
Now he could act.  
Alas, his plans continuously failed. Did someone in the sky (or in  
hell) protect the Decepticon leader? Frustration accentuated  
Starscream's hate as fiasco followed one another. Megatron began to  
distrust him, making his project even harder.  
So he decided to change his strategy.  
His leader thought he was trying to eliminate him? Well, don't set  
him right. Only fool him on your motives. Make him believing that you  
only want to take his place. People like Megatron never take go-  
getter seriously, partly because there's a lot around them. He won't  
fear the fool you are. So, when you'll be ready to shot…  
For the following millions years, he had worked to perfect his  
character of a mean conspirator, building failure-intended plans to  
reinforce it. He had fooled all the Decepticons and above all the one  
he wanted to fool more than another: Megatron. The time would come  
soon. Soon… Soon…  
STARSCREAM!!! YOU DON'T LISTEN TO ME!!!  
He started; Megatron looked at him with his optics redder than  
ever.  
- Hem… I was listening to you, Your Greatness… Carefully… I didn't  
lose a word…  
Megatron had a dark smile.  
- Well, so please, repeat what I was saying.  
Of course, Starscream was unable to do so. And of course too,  
Megatron gave him a good dressing-down. One more. However, as he  
looked contrite, Starscream didn't care. A sweet word nursed him. A  
very, very sweet word.  
Soon.  
Soon.  
Soon. 


End file.
